My Italy

The Ottoman army finally arrived at Zabadani, but by the time they arrived, the church had become a piece of scorched earth, which was the mark of being burned by fire.

After some searching, they only found a few burnt corpses, which made it impossible to identify who they were. Faced with this situation, the Ottoman officer leading the team knew the seriousness of the problem, and lesson plans were not unique to the Far East.

He immediately reported the matter to Damascus, and detained Imam Agali, the culprit who caused the church to be destroyed, and more than a dozen key figures captured after interrogation.

But although he handled the situation well, he couldn't hide the matter at all. A few days later, Italy's Florence Evening News first published this report,

In the newspaper's report, two innocent Italian priests were persecuted by Ottoman religious forces, and their ghosts have been lingering in Syria. At the end of the newspaper, it was written that this does not rule out the fact that local religious forces have obtained the government's approval. Otherwise, how could such a tragedy happen in a small town only 60 kilometers away from Damascus.

Even though the Florence Evening News was relatively reserved, the report still caused an uproar. The media that followed up the report later became even more outspoken. This tragedy was the Ottoman government's tacit approval.

Some newspapers even wrote that the whole thing was planned by the Ottoman government, who did not want their people to see the light of the Lord shining on the land. (This was a bit excessive, as they completely ignored the large number of Christians in the Ottoman Empire.)

The massive media publicity was naturally inseparable from the backstage promoters' efforts to fuel the flames.

As the main driving force behind the scenes, it is our respected King Carlo. Of course, when he first learned of the tragedy in Syria, Carlo's first reaction was that this was an opportunity, and his second reaction was that the timing was not very good.

Because Italy was not completely ready, but considering that this opportunity was good, Carlo summoned his ministers to discuss it after receiving the news.

The result of the discussion was that the government believed that it could wait a while, because Italy's preparations had not yet been completed, and it was best to wait until it was completely ready before declaring war on the Ottoman Empire.

The military's attitude is that although the preparations have not yet been completed, this opportunity is too rare and the military believes that it can declare war on the Ottomans.

Especially General Saraguet, who is the Minister of War, said it plausibly. "Although the army's replacement has not yet been completed, our army is confident in launching a winning attack against the Ottoman army."

What gave General Saraget such confidence was mainly due to the gap in weapons between the two armies. Although the Italian Army is smaller in number than the Ottoman Empire, most of its army officers and soldiers have been equipped with new standard rifles, which is much better than the Ottoman Army which still uses old breech-loading guns and even some single-loading rifles. too much.

Not to mention that in terms of army support firepower, the Italian Army was able to defeat the Ottoman army. At present, Italian artillery is basically advanced rear-mounted retractable guns, which are not comparable to the Ottoman army, which has not even retired its front-mounted Napoleon cannons.

For this reason, General Saraguet also assured Carlo that the Italian Army would be fully equipped in one month, expand to 700,000 in two months, and reach 85 in three months. Thousands of people.

After the Franco-Prussian War, all countries strengthened their mobilization capabilities, and although Italy's mobilization speed cannot be said to be fast, it is not slow at all.

In addition, the current full strength of an Italian Army division is more than 15,600 people, but in peacetime, its strength fluctuates between 8,400 and 12,100 people. An Italian army has two divisions, plus one or two brigades of mountain or cavalry, artillery and other supporting units. At full strength, the number can reach about 45,000-52,000.

Therefore, the Italian Army's current ten-corps structure is not low at all, and it still maintains a strength of 280,000-300,000 people on weekdays.

Of course, in addition to Admiral Saragat, Admiral Gorek of the Navy is even more confident, because the Ottoman Empire's navy is not worth mentioning.

Since the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, the Ottoman Navy has been locked in the bay of Istanbul by its Sultan Abdul Hamid II. In the past five years, the Ottoman Navy has not added a ship with a tonnage of more than 1,000 tons. warships, and the main force of its fleet is still the old guys who have experienced the Turkish-Russian war. Apart from being able to cooperate with the forts to guard the Black Sea Straits, what else can such a navy be used for? If they encounter them in the sea, two Venice-modified cruisers can defeat them.

So compared to the army, the navy has no suspense at all.

When the two admirals representing the navy and army said there was no problem, Carlo felt that this opportunity could not wait.

You must know that situations like the murder of a priest are most likely to trigger public anger. Because people from all over Europe basically go to church, no matter who they are, this is inevitable.

The killing of innocent priests by heretics can arouse the emotions of the people even more.

So after careful consideration, Carlo resolutely agreed to the military's request. After Carlo agreed, the government stopped insisting. After all, when a war breaks out, it is still up to the military to speak for itself. Although the preparations are not perfect, nothing can always go as planned.

With the promotion of all parties, the murder of two priests in Syria caused such a sensation in Italy. Otherwise, if two priests were killed, there would be such a big news.

Regarding the current outbreak of public opinion, the current intensity is not enough. He and the government need to wait until public sentiment is at its highest before taking advantage of the situation to announce actions against the Ottoman Empire.

But before that, people’s emotions also need to be guided.

So Carlo has been in the palace these days, paying attention to the fermentation of public opinion.

But today, there was a little accident. The captain of the guard, Felici Mitch, walked in with a telegram and a strange look on his face.

"What's the matter, captain of the guard?"

Looking at Feli Mickey's expression, Carlo couldn't help but ask.

"Your Majesty, this is a telegram from the Vatican."

Carlo was also surprised by the words of the captain of the guard. Then he thought again, those old antiques were real, they were only two or three kilometers apart, and they actually needed to send telegraphs?

"Pull over here and let me see."

Out of curiosity, Carlo wanted to see what the Vatican telegram said and what kind of trouble Leo XIII wanted to do.

As a result, when looking at the contents of the telegram, Carlo also showed a strange expression. There is no way around it. Anyone who sees someone who has always been against him suddenly changes his attitude 180 degrees will have this expression.

"Are you sure it's from the Vatican?"

"Sure, I've called to confirm."

Facing the answer of the captain of the guard, Carlo was also a little confused. The content of the telegram was very ordinary. It was to thank the Italian government for its support to the servant of God and to hope that the Holy See and the Italian government could have good neighborliness and friendship.

The content of this telegram is very simple and ordinary. To other countries, this would be considered nonsense at best. After this telegram came from the Vatican, this treasure was extraordinary. You must know that the telegrams sent by the Vatican before were either protests or warnings, and there were no good words anyway.

So the slightly normal telegram was surprising.

"I understand. Let the Prime Minister contact the Vatican and see what their thoughts are."

Although Carlo didn't know what the Vatican was thinking, he tried to get in touch to see if the attitude was good, and he wouldn't lose money anyway.

So while arousing public opinion, the Italian government tried to contact the Vatican, which has always been hostile to itself.

Sorry, I overestimated myself. Chapter 3 is just released now.